I have been waiting for this video for 33 1/2 years.

Deep Purple at the California Jam in Ontario, California.

It was the second concert I ever attended. An all day outdoor festival held at the raceway. Somewhere around a quarter million people showed up. No one knows for sure how many got in for free. The crowd was amazingly well behaved and the show went on without serious incedent.

I won VIP tickets from a record store chain and got to sit right down front in a fenced off press area. Set apart from most of the crowd. I was there early and stayed all day right down front. The whole thing was filmed by ABC tv and had a lot of crowd shots from on the stage, but haven't seen myself on camera yet.

ABC tv hosted the event to provide for their show In Concert and excerpts of all the bands were shown over several weeks. And the televised segments were also broadcast on FM radio in an early version of simulcasting. I've had most of the audio ( radio broadcast ) on tape since '74, and six or eight years ago a cd of the headlining Deep Purple set came out. It included one song that the radio had skipped.

But now finally .... The DVD with every minute on stage plus bonus stuff. All the songs including several other ones the cd also skipped. With restored audio ( not bad ) and interesting extras.

As for the video, like I noted, the whole festival was filmed by ABC and parts were shown late nights, but that was before VCR's, so nobody had a copy. Actually the video is not too bad. Standard broadcast quality of the time, but very watchable.

The Deep Purple set is OLD School Metal at it's loudest. They were in the Guinness book as the worlds loudest in those days. I wore ear plugs.

Other groups were:

Black Oak Arkansas
The Eagles
Rare Earth
Earth Wind & Fire
Black Sabbath
Seals and Crofts
The Chambers Brothers
Emerson, Lake and Palmer


Who knows? Maybe I am on the camera. 33 years of waiting. I gotta get back and finish watching it.

Crank it up !!

Tonight I had to fend for myself. Kristie was away most of the evening. Fear not I had plenty of food stashed in the fridge. And I was able to spend the time expanding my knowledge by reviewing a well known, highly regarded, much watched educational film.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail ( Special Edition )

I learned several useful factoids I need to share.

• Fact One: First off with the approaching Halloween season I learned that the best way to identify a witch is NOT from her appearance. No it is best to weigh her. If she weighs less than a duck then she must float. If she can float she must be made of wood which floats. If wood floats then she's a witch !!

?? Or something like that. ??

• Fact two: A really good French insult is "Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!"

• Fact three: African or European Swallow, doesn't really matter neither can carry a coconut. However like the guards that are concerned with the flight patterns of swallows, I have began extra outside studies. ( see below )

• Fact four : ( this is the most critical fact ) Be very afraid of Killer Bunnies. Should you encounter a Killer Bunny there is but one solution. The Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch !

Here are the instructions for it's use.
"First shalt thou take out the Holy Pin.
Then shalt thou count to three, no more, no less.
Three shall be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, neither count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out. Once the number three, being the third number, be reached, then lobbest thou thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch towards thy foe......."

On no the 'Smiley Face' is 25

What is man kinds most lasting contribution to electronic messaging? I submit it is the 'Smiley Face' !!

:-)


Claimed to have been invented by professor Scott Fahlman of Carnegie Mellon University, he says he first posted it at 11:44 a.m. on Sept. 19, 1982.


Happy Birthday 'Smiley'


;-)

I have been Blogging a year !!!!!



Whoo Whoo


It's been fun.

I've made a lot of friends here.


Stay Tuned

Look maw there's two !!!

It is soccer time again. Last year seems to have only been a couple months ago.

Ashley ( the Monk ) is playing and Jackson ( Soccer Boy ) is on her team again too. In fact the team is mostly returning from last year. They finished in first place before so I expect them to shine. They renamed themselves however this year. The Pirates. Arrrr !!!

Tonight was actually the second game. I went to both and the first thing I noticed a year later is that the intensity is much higher. Last week they won their debut contest 7 - 4. Ashley scored two of those and Jackson made one. The other team really only scored 3 points, but got a goal free when the ball slipped from the goalie's hands on a throw. It had been raining slightly.

They lost tonight in a surprise upset. 3 to 4. I think it was a fluke because they really seemed better than that sounds. Oh well.

Next game they'll hit it hard.

Kristie and I hit Moe's Southwest grill before the game, but chickened-out on going by Sam's Club.

Here is the latest image. Lock the door and bar the windows.

It's just a tropical storm right now, but look at the projected path then remember the hot Gulf waters are like jet fuel to these things. Remember my family in Florida and my friends in Texas and Louisiana.

You Ring We Spring

I am not kidding that is the name of the bail bonding company O.J. used this time.
I can't make up stuff this good.

O.J made bail......Stand by your TV for the low speed chase